Labour Market Observatory
Permanent Study Group on Immigration and Integration
Conference on
Integrating migrants into the labour market:
a win-win situation for all
25 June 2015, EESC, Brussels
EVENT REPORT
OPENING
Christa Schweng, President of the EESC's Labour Market Observatory, opened the joint LMO-IMI
conference by welcoming all participants, explaining that the debates would deal with two important
topics that are both at the top of headlines: migration and employment. She clarified that the scope of
the discussions would be people who come to the EU through family reunification, people who come
for employment and the ones who come for studies and are allowed to stay to search for a job after
graduation. Additionally, when talking about integration measures -and in particular educationsecond and third generation migrants would also be included. The conference did not aim to deal with
asylum-seekers or irregular migrants.
Migration can help to address some of the challenges posed by demographic change and skills
shortages in the EU. EU migration policy should help to better address skills shortages and
mismatches and make it easier to attract talent, in order to make the EU more competitive on the
world scene. Yet, there is a need for specific policies that aim to offset the systematically lower
employment rates of non-EU citizens compared to the national population and mobile EU citizens and
to ensure that skills, competences and qualifications of migrants do not remain under-used. The main
questions that the conference sought to answer were therefore how strategies on fostering labour
market integration of migrants can be maximized and what role the economic stakeholders should
play in that respect.
Irini Pari, President of the EESC Permanent Study Group on Immigration and Integration, underlined
the EESC's commitment to migration issues, as exemplified by the large amount of opinions it has
prepared in that area and the organization of the European Migration Forum since 2009. To talk about
the labour market integration of migrants could not be timelier, because of renewed EU efforts to
optimise its migration policy, focusing among others on migrant integration and legal migration
channels. She explained that the findings of the conference would be used in the Committee's work on
the European Agenda on Migration and its contribution to the EC's informal expert group on
economic migration. She recommended all participants to take part in the public consultation on the
Blue Card Directive, as organised by DG Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission.
PANEL 1 – SETTING THE SCENE :
CURRENT SITUATION IN THE EU REGARDING LABOUR MARKET PARTICIPATION OF MIGRANTS
Maureen O'Neill introduced the topic and speakers of the first panel.
Thomas Liebig from the International Migration Division of the OECD explained that there is a large
diversity in the magnitude and composition of immigration flows in the various EU countries. Family
migrants form the biggest group of third country nationals and labour migrants are only about one
third of all legal permanent migrants. With the exception of Greece and Spain, in all countries the
majority of immigrants are employed. Low educated migrants are generally just as well integrated
into the labour market as the native born lowly-educated. In some countries their labour market
participation is even higher than that of the native born. The situation is different for highly-skilled
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migrants, which in virtually all countries are less well integrated into the labour market. Highlyskilled third country nationals have lower employment rates and are very often over-qualified when
they do have a job. He explained that this is due mostly to issues related to the transferability of
qualifications and skills acquired abroad and host country language proficiency. Labour migrants
without language problems no longer experience a higher incidence of over-qualification. To
conclude, Thomas Liebig provided some good practices to facilitate labour market integration of new
arrivals and introduced some of the new challenges to labour market integration that have been arising
recently.
Heinz Becker, Member of the European Parliament, said the EU has to consider the challenges posed
by the recognition of skills and qualifications if it wants to open its borders to labour migrants.
Moreover, labour migration should be driven by the needs of the Member States and their labour
markets. Access to Europe should be granted to people who are persecuted or experience serious
threats to their lives, but Europe should also try to become more attractive to highly-skilled workers in
the global competition for talent. Labour market shortages should be addressed by labour migration
and it could therefore be interesting to open the EURES network to third country nationals. At
current, the distance between migrants and potential employers is too large and recruitment tools often
fail to generate a good match between labour migrants and their jobs. Children of migrants should
have better access to early childhood education to ensure their successful integration later in life.
Examples from the UK and Austria suggest that migrants contribute to the economy of host countries
and, contrary to what is often believed, are not a burden on social security systems. He concluded by
saying that the EU has to ensure it manages migration in such a way that it contributes to its
prosperity and success in the globalising, competitive economy.
Jasper van Loo from CEDEFOP argued that migration is vital to addressing Europe's current and
future demographic and employment challenges. Europe needs to take measures to increase
participation in the labour market, which include both activation policies and migration policy.
Simulations showed that the Europe2020 target of having a 75% employment rate is probably out of
reach under current circumstances. To reach that target in a sustainable way, it would be necessary to
activate more than one third of all currently inactive people. This would, however, carry a great fiscal
cost on national budgets. Efforts needed to be made would not be the same throughout European
countries, with some countries even unable to activate their workforce further. In those countries,
migration could contribute to increasing the size of the active population and meet all labour market
demands. He gave two practical examples of integration measures that help migrants finding their
place in the labour market. He concluded by saying that economic and employment policies should
include mobility and migration and take account of the need to address skills mismatches.
During the debate that followed, participants mentioned the risks involved in trying to attract highskilled workers only, overqualified workers still considering their experience useful and enriching, the
question when integration measures should start, the importance of improving education systems in
the countries of origin, the need to avoid a brain drain in countries of origin, the concern that migrants
are being pushed out of the labour market, labour market integration of refugees, and low-skilled and
undocumented migrants.
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The panellists responded to the questions, elaborating on the link between migration and
development, employer recognition of skills and qualifications in the form of competence cards,
mentorship programmes, the disadvantage of older people in the labour market, the need to reduce
unemployment, the employment potential in the medium-skilled range, the need to create forums for
policy learning, mutual beneficial policies avoiding brain drain, and qualification frameworks.
Key points from panel 1
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Labour market integration efforts should mainly focus on highly-skilled workers, as they
are the ones more often unemployed or over-qualified.
(Host country) language skills are essential and training is ideally 'on the job'.
Labour market integration may benefit from mentorship programmes.
Integration programmes for newly arrived immigrants can be useful, but do not succeed
in quickly integrating migrants lacking education and/or basic skills into the labour
market. A more long-term investment is needed in that case.
Family migrants are very difficult to integrate into the labour market, while this often has
a negative impact on the integration successes of their children.
The EU needs labour migration to deal with demographic change and skills shortages if
it wants to remain competitive, achieve the Europe2020 employment target and contest
in the global competition for talent. Medium-skilled labourers are also needed.
It should be considered opening up EURES for third country nationals.
Economic and employment policies should include mobility and migration and take
account of the need to address skills mismatches.
It is important to also invest in the migrants already there, preferably after having singled
out the ones most likely to stay.
Employers could recognise skills and qualifications of third country nationals in the form
of competence cards.
Stakeholders could exchange best practices through a policy learning platform.
There is a need to further develop qualification frameworks.
PANEL 2 – EU LEGISLATION RELATED TO LEGAL MIGRATION
Luis Miguel Pariza Castaños opened the second panel by introducing the topic and the speakers. In
2010, upon request of the Belgian EU Presidency, the EESC prepared an opinion on the role of legal
migration in addressing demographic change. It concluded that the EU needed both a higher degree of
intra-EU mobility and a policy more open to labour migrants from third countries. At the same time,
an effort would need to be made to create a welcoming environment without racism and xenophobia.
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Jean Lambert, Member of the European Parliament, pointed out that EU migration legislation is very
fragmented and incoherent. Migrants' rights should be improved and harmonised and it should be
easier to change migrant status or take on different employment. In the interest of both migrants and
employers it should be easier to organise long-term engagements and residence in the EU. She made a
case against simply retraining the local workforce to address skills shortages, as this would be too
lengthy and out of sync with employer needs. Instead, foreign workers could be attracted in parallel to
training the domestic population. Rules and procedures should be brought in line with realities on the
ground. Currently salary thresholds are often used as evidence of qualification, but it needs to be
checked if these salary levels actually reflect reality. The required levels are often much too high. The
system needs to be simplified and should be more employment-driven than border managementdriven.
Laura Corrado from the European Commission recalled that in 2001 the Commission had tabled an
ambitious proposal for a streamlined, comprehensive directive on legal migration for work purposes,
which was rejected by the Council. As a result, the Commission instead proposed separate Directives
for different categories of workers, which led to the fragmented legal migration acquis as it exists
today. Yet, despite its shortcomings, the acquis has succeeded in setting common, harmonised
admission conditions and in establishing a principle of equal treatment. Concerning intra-EU mobility
she said that the concerns that EU citizens would have fewer rights than third country nationals are
unjustified and that migration from third countries would not limit possibilities for intra-EU mobility.
Both types of migration are considered equally important. The Commission recognises that the social,
economic and labour dimensions need to be considered in the policy-making process, which is
exemplified by the comprehensiveness of the recently published European Agenda on Migration.
Legal migration will be dealt with taking a medium to long term perspective, starting with a review of
the Blue Card Directive. The policy is intended to contribute to economic growth, competitiveness,
and sustainable employment. This will be followed by a fitness check of the complete legal migration
acquis in the course of next year. To support the work on legal migration, a Platform for structural
dialogue on labour migration will be set up by the end of this year.
During the debate that followed, participants mentioned volunteers, undocumented migrants doing
domestic or other undeclared work, intra-EU mobility for third country nationals, ratification of the
UN convention on migrants and their families, making the Blue Card scheme more attractive and
flexible, labour market assessments determining what kind of skills are needed, recognition of foreign
skills and qualifications, and perspectives of employers on labour migration.
Laura Corrado responded to the questions, mentioning the possibility to have mandatory rules on
volunteers at EU level, long term residence, intra-EU mobility for third country nationals, why some
MS are reluctant to sign the UN convention on migrant workers, the fragmentation of rights, the
conditions to obtain a Blue Card, and the right for researchers to look for a job.
Luis Miguel Pariza Castaños recalled that in 2005 the EESC had recommended that all MS sign up
to the UN convention on migrants and suggested that new initiatives in this area might need to be
taken in the future.
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Key points from panel 2
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Labour migration and intra-EU mobility are both needed and are not mutually exclusive.
Migrant rights should be further harmonised between Member States and between
categories of migrants.
It should be easier for migrants to change between statuses or jobs.
Rules and procedures should be brought in line with reality and allow for more flexibility.
There is a need to regulate the status of volunteer workers.
It should be recognised that there are many undocumented migrants doing domestic or
other undeclared work in the EU.
PANEL 3 – SPECIFIC CHALLENGES FOR INTEGRATION - IMPORTANCE OF IDENTIFYING KEY DRIVERS FOR
INTEGRATION IN ORDER TO MAXIMISE THE IMPACT OF POLICY INTERVENTIONS
Irini Pari opened the second panel by introducing the first speaker, Kashetu Kyenge, Member of the
European Parliament. Ms Kyenge expressed her hopes for a change in the European approach towards
migration, which should not be based on fear and negativism. Migration policy should take into
account all economic, demographic and social aspects and the real causes of migration should be
understood. The EU should allow for temporary migration, the requirements for residence permits
should be simplified and the blue card should be extended for less qualified workers. Labour market
needs must be met, while workers' exploitation has to be avoided. Therefore, it is important to fight
against corruption and organised crime and to promote good governance. Finally, Kashetu Kyenge
pointed out that there is a need to change mentalities and terminology, stopping the use of terms such
as "clandestine", "illegal", as a migrant without papers is not a criminal.
Irini Pari confirmed that the EU should not close its borders, but instead work to better manage
migration and integrate migrants in the labour market and that the EESC will support Ms Kyenge's
current work on "The situation in the Mediterranean and the need for a holistic approach to
migration".
Maria Vincenza Desiderio from the Migration Policy Institute focused her presentation on the
recognition of qualifications and skills acquired in third countries. According to her, difficulties in the
recognition of foreign qualifications are a major cause of underutilisation of immigrants’ human
capital in the receiving country labour market. In regulated professions, a formal recognition by
competent authorities is needed and that limits the access of the migrant to employment. This is a real
concern because many occupations that are highly demanded are in regulated professions. In
unregulated professions, the qualifications assessment is at employers’ discretion and these – and
especially the SMEs - are not always familiar with foreign qualifications.
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Ms Desiderio then gave several concrete examples of initiatives taken by Member States to improve
the recognition of foreign qualifications. These were based on facilitating access to information on
recognition procedures, ensuring early and timely recognition, or promoting early access to
professional practice in regulated professions. She also spoke about Mutual Recognition Agreements,
which can be a useful tool to set up standardized, transparent recognition procedures. Speaking about
the role of the EU, Ms Desiderio pointed out that soft laws instruments and funding can be better
used. The EU has funded a certain number of good practices, which would now need to be evaluated.
The idea of platforms for recognition could be explored. Employers and regulators could be better
engaged in improving the recognition process. Raising public awareness on the value of immigrants’
foreign qualifications is important as well as promoting structural multi-stakeholder cooperation on
education and vocational training between MS and third countries.
The next speaker was Eva Valentova, who spoke on behalf of the Czech Association for Integration
and Migration (SIMI) and the European Network of Migrant Women (ENoMW). Her intervention
focused on "Gender aspects regarding migrant integration into the labour market", but also illustrated
the situation of migrants' integration in Central Europe countries.
Ms Valentova pointed out that although migration affects migrant women and men in a different way,
the existing migration policies are gender neutral, overlook the specific needs of migrant women and
put women at a disadvantage. Therefore, ENoMW is pleading for gender-sensitive migration and
integration policies as well as for migration aware gender equality measures. Member States should
correctly implement the EU standards (e.g. the Sanctions Directive) and gender mainstreaming should
be inserted in employment policies, social policies and data collection.
Ms Valentova also spoke about the barriers that migrant women face when entering the labour
market, such as linguistic barriers, cultural barriers, lack of awareness of their rights, lack of
education. Those come in addition to structural obstacles such as the lack of recognition of
qualifications or lack of child care. As a consequence, migrant women are vulnerable and can end up
in precarious work, becoming a cheap non-qualified labour force with no labour rights nor equal
labour conditions.
Finally, Eva Valentova presented the situation in the Czech Republic, where migration is more recent
than in Western Europe countries and where domestic work is a new segment of the labour market,
hidden and overlooked by the state.
During the debates of the third panel, participants discussed the importance of migrants' image, the
need for more migrant entrepreneurship, the issue of the recognition of work experience and the need
to increase the access to jobs in the public sector. Kashetu Kyenge pointed out the need for an EU
common integration policy. The upcoming adoption of an EESC opinion on the "Recognition of skills
and qualifications acquired through non-formal and informal learning – the practical input of
organised civil society" (rapporteur Pavel Trantina, co-rapporteur Marie Zvolská) was announced.
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Key points from panel 3
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EU migration policy should not be based on fear but on solidarity and on a good analysis
of economic, demographic and social aspects.
Requirements for residence permits should be simplified and the blue card should be
extended for less qualified workers.
Migrants' exploitation has to be avoided. Therefore, it is important to fight against
corruption and organised crime and to promote good governance.
There is need to improve migrants' image, use a positive terminology regarding migrants
and raise awareness on the value of their qualifications and skills.
Lack of recognition of foreign qualifications leads to underutilisation of immigrants’
human capital. Employers and regulators should be better engaged in improving the
recognition process.
A certain number of good practices exist in the area of qualifications recognition, but it
is time now to evaluate them. The idea of platforms for recognition could be explored.
Promoting structural multi-stakeholder cooperation on education and vocational training
between MS and third countries can be helpful.
Migration and integration policies should take into account gender aspects and gender
equality measures should take into account migrant specific aspects.
PANEL 4 – KEY FEATURES OF SUCCESSFUL INTEGRATION INITIATIVES
Christa Schweng introduced the panel's topic and the speakers.
Klára Fóti, Research Manager at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and
Working Conditions (Eurofound) presented some preliminary findings from Eurofound's recent
projects on integration initiatives for migrants. She made special reference to the report Labour
mobility in the EU: Recent trends and policies (2014) and to the ongoing project Intra-EU mobility:
Impact on public services that analyses the situation in nine host countries. Research shows that
integration initiatives are used for both third-country nationals and EU mobile citizens.
Ms Fóti exposed a series of good practices from several Member States. One of them related to a "one
stop shop" for immigrants in Barcelona, which offered support in getting qualifications recognised.
The service can be regarded as a bridge built between the immigrants and the relevant authorities and
is a successful example of cooperation between social partners and local government. Other examples
related to an info point implemented by the Slovene Employment Service in partnership with trade
unions and NGOs and to the Association for the Integration of New Danes onto the Labour Market –
an initiative to promote diversity within companies.
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Ms Fóti pointed out that the bottom-up approach and the cooperation at various levels is crucial for
the success of integration initiatives - between central government and local government and between
all the relevant stakeholders such as public authorities, social partners and NGOs.
Ricardo Nobre, Managing Director of Cross Border Talents, a company recruiting talents from all
over the world, based in Germany showed how they are encouraging private companies to integrate
migrants. Against the global skills shortage issue, it is important to engage with all stakeholders to
close skills gaps and to put in place innovative mobility solutions. An example of initiatives for
improving the integration of migrants as employees, CB Talents created the "3% Mobility League", to
create momentum behind the recruitment of unemployed mobile talents. Companies that are members
of that league are asked to hire 3% of their staff from other countries. A CB Talents Academy was
also launched to train people according to labour markets' needs and to ensure full employability.
Marco Cilento from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) presented UnionMigrantNet,
a network created by trade unions and other stakeholders (NGOs, entreprises) to support migrants'
integration into the labour market. Mr Cilento mentioned some of the problems that migrants face,
such as discrimination or the difficulty to gain employers' trust. According to Mr Cilento, protection
of migrants should not be limited to the one provided at the work place. Supporting the integration
into the society as a whole, thanks to for example information offices, allows to gain migrants' trust
and to put in place more ambitious integration projects. He gave some good practices examples, from
Spain, Italy and France, where trade unions have created contact points that offer specific services to
migrants. Engaging migrants to provide services to other migrants is a successful practice. The
UnionMigrantNet portal, run in 7 languages, gives visibility to the service providers. The contact
points can also easily cooperate with each other through the portal.
Bea Diallo, Deputy-Mayor of Ixelles, Member of the Brussels Parliament and of the French
Community Parliament presented the project Emergence XL, related to the inclusion of migrants and
young people into the labour market through sport, job coaching, training and apprenticeship. Sport is
used as a tool for integration, as the person is encouraged to be more self-confident, determined,
respectful of rules, and to take care of his/her health. The project also aims to create links with
employers.
During the debate that followed, EESC members spoke about the role of trade unions in the context
of social dialogue: trade unions negotiate collective, sectoral agreements to defend the nondiscrimination principle and target figures are set regarding migrants hiring. Another participant
illustrated good practices in Belgium, like setting up micro enterprises with micro credits. Volunteers'
efforts have been highlighted. Ricardo Nobre pointed out the importance of training for full
employability and gave the example of a VET school in Ireland. Klára Fóti recalled that cooperation
between stakeholders is crucial, as well as the migrants' motivation to integrate into work. Mr Cilento
announced upcoming activities related to multi stakeholder programmes and social dialogue activities.
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Key points from panel 4
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The bottom-up approach and the cooperation at various governance levels (national
regional, local) and among all relevant stakeholders (social partners, civil society, public
authorities) is crucial for the success of integration initiatives.
Against the skills shortage drama, it is important to engage with all stakeholders to close
skills gaps, to put in place innovative mobility solutions and train people according to
labour markets' needs.
Efforts are needed to integrate migrants into the work place, but also into society as a
whole.
Engaging migrants to provide services to other migrants is a successful practice.
Sport can be an excellent tool for integration, as it helps to become more self-confident,
focused, and disciplined.
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